Panipat, May 19
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has extended unconditional support to BJP's PM-designate Narendra Modi.

INLD state president Ashok Arora accompanied by its newly elected Lok Sabha MPs Dushyant Chautala and Charanjit Singh Rori and Rajya Sabha MPs Ranbir Gangwa and Ram Kumar Kashyap met BJP president Rajnath Singh in New Delhi this morning.

Arora said, “We have congratulated Rajnath Singh on unprecedented and historic win of the BJP and extend our unconditional outside support to Modi. We have already announced that we will support the Modi government at the Centre.”

To a query, he said they did not discuss about any possible alliance with the BJP during the forthcoming Assembly elections. He said: “The INLD will field its candidates on all 90 seats in the Assembly elections.”

He said: “Parliament and Assembly elections are different in nature. The voters will vote and support the INLD in the Assembly elections as it fought for their rights during the last 10 years.”

On the INLD victory from Hisar and Sirsa, Arora said the INLD not only won two seats but also remained second on three other seats of Gurgaon, Kurukshetra and Bhiwani-Mahendragarh in the Lok Sabha elections. “Besides, we managed to maintain lead on 16 Assembly segments,” he added.

Regarding preparations for the coming Assembly elections, the INLD held a meeting here today.

The INLD demanded that after forming the government, Modi should probe all controversial land deals executed by Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government.

It sought wheat bonus of Rs 500 per quintal for farmers and paving way for the construction of the SYL canal.

Arora said the INLD would start holding workers’ meeting at the district headquarters from May 23.

Ambala, May 19
Following the thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections, Anil Vij, BJP’s legislature party leader in the Assembly, today said now it was unlikely for the party to contest Assembly elections projecting Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi as the chief ministerial candidate of the BJP-HJC alliance.

Vij said Kuldeep could not save his own parliamentary seat and under the changed political scenario, it would not be in the BJP’s interest to project him as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance. On future of the BJP-HJC alliance, he said a final call would be taken by the party high command.

He said after securing 34.7 per cent votes in the Lok Sabha elections and the dwindling base of the Congress, the BJP was in a strong position to go it all alone in the Assembly elections.

Hisar, May 19
Taking an initiative to restore social harmony, which became a casualty in the district in the aftermath of violence and controversies between Dalits and the upper caste communities, especially in Mirchpur and Bhagana villages of the district, a group of social activists has embarked on ‘mission bhaichara’ to restore the old social ties among different castes.

The group members, belonging to different walks of life and different communities, held a meeting at the Sarvodaya Bhawan today to form a 10-member committee to bridge the widening gap between Dalits and the upper caste communities.

The committee includes Krishan Swaroop Gorakhpuria, former zila parishad president, ML Sahgal, employees union leader, LC Manchanda, Kartar Siwach, Mahavir Sharma, Kalpana Jakhar, Bishan Swaroop Dabra, Bhagwan Dass, Surender Arya and Mahavir Singh.

Gorakhpuria said they would meet the Dalits of Bhagana village, who have been sitting on a dharna at the mini secretariat for many months now, and involve them in their mission. "We would call on the administration and then visit the village to take stock of the situation and to find out ways to restore the old social fabric. We have urged other people also who are willing to work for this cause and would also seek the cooperation from different political parties", he said.

The activists said they would invite the representatives of different political parties as well to work towards social harmony.

The stage for the caste politics in the state was set after a series of unfortunate incidents occurred. Firstly, in Mirchur village, a group of Jats resorted to arson in a Dalit locality in 2010 when an aged man and his disabled daughter were burnt to death.

The Bhagana row between the two communities over a piece of panchayat land in the village further ignited the sentiments on both sides. 

Rohtak, May 19
The BJP may have exhibited brilliant performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections but factionalism and infighting have already started infesting the state unit of the saffron party.

BJP Kisan Morcha president Om Prakash Dhankar, who contested the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat unsuccessfully, today blamed senior party leaders for sabotaging his election campaign.

In a media interaction at the party office here, Dhankar alleged that the stance adopted by certain BJP leaders had led to his defeat. “It was not back-stabbing…They stabbed me in the front and it was done openly,” the BJP leader said.

Though Dhankar did not name his detractors, his attack was apparently aimed at the opposition from Haryana BJP vice-president Naresh Malik and the party’s spokesperson Capt Abhimanyu, who were supposedly opposed to his (Dhankar’s) candidature from the Rohtak parliamentary constituency.

However, owing to his proximity to top BJP leader Narendra Modi, Dhankar managed to get the party ticket, which reportedly infuriated the said leaders.

Disgruntled BJP workers and their supporters had ransacked the state party office located here, raised slogans against the party’s Haryana leadership and showed black flags to state BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma here after the allocation of the party ticket to Dhankar.

Some of the protesters had even alleged that the state unit president had recommended the names of certain ticket aspirants in return for monetary favours.

Jhajjar, May 19
Struggling to ensure quality education in government schools, the state government has now decided to conduct an examination for primary, trained graduate and postgraduate teachers in order to analyse and understand theirstrengths and weaknesses.

Sources said the Haryana School Education Board (HSEB) had been asked conduct the test across the state. The paper will be based on multiple-choice questions.

“The test will be conducted under the training need analysis (TNA) programme that aims at empowering the teachers -- both in terms of content as well as in classroom transaction -- after finding out their weak and strong points,” said a senior officer of the Education Department.

He said the test would be imperative for teachers of all subjects working in the government primary, high and senior secondary schools.

He said the test would be conducted on May 26 while May 30 had been fixed for the examination of TGTs. The examination would be held in two sessions at selected centres across the state.

Terming the government’s move as ‘illogical’, the Haryana Master Varga Association has started opposing the test for teachers stating that there was no meaning of such test when the teachers were selected on the HTET basis.

The association at its meeting at Yadav Dharamshala in Mahendragarh yesterday said the government was planning to hold an unnecessary exercise for the teachers while their several justified demands remained unfulfilled.

Meanwhile, Jhajjar District Education Officer (DEO) Sadhu Ram Rohilla said the examination would be conducted just to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the schoolteachers so that further steps could be taken accordingly.

“Outcome of the test will not affect the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) and increment of the teachers in any manner,” Rohila added.

Kurukshetra, May 19
With the verdict of Lok Sabha elections in its favour, an 'upbeat' BJP district unit has geared up for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Dhuman Singh Kirmach, district BJP chief, said the party had won the Kurukshetra parliamentary seat for the first time.

He said a state-level meeting was likely to be held after the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi.

The BJP led in three of the four Assembly segments in Kurukshetra district. It led in Ladwa (54,650), Shahabad (41,064) and Thanesar (57,794) while it remained on the third spot in Pehowa (23,495).

Currently, the Assembly seats of Kurukshetra district are well poised between the INLD and Congress as two assembly constituencies, Thanesar (Ashok Arora) and Ladwa (Sher Singh Badshami), are currently being represented by INLD legislators while the other two seats, Pehowa (Harmohinder Singh Chatha) and Shahabad (Anil Dhantori ), are being represented by Congress legislators.— TNS

Karnal, May 19
The INLD candidate from the Karnal Lok Sabha constituency could not save his security deposit even though four of the nine MLAs from the Assembly segments are of the party.

Former Agriculture Minister Jaswinder Singh Sandhu polled 1,87,902 votes of the 11,93,477 votes polled and stood third. A candidate has to secure one-sixth of the total votes polled to save his security deposit.

Mamu Ram Gonder is the sitting MLA from Nilokehri, Ashok Kashyap from Indri, Narinder Sangwan from Gharaunda and Krishan Pawar from Israna.

The INLD candidate got the maximum votes (39,039) from Assandh, which has a sizeable Sikh population. He stood second and trailed the BJP candidate.

Sandhu polled 25,699 votes from Nilokehri, 18,944 from Indri, 14,130 from Karnal, 22,112 from Gharaunda, 22,816 from Israna, 18,574 from Samalkha, 20,046 from Panipat Rural and 6,533 from Panipat Urban segments.

BSP candidate Maratha Virender Verma finished fourth in this election with 1,02,628 votes and could not save his security deposit.

Jind, May 19
Hundreds of visitors to the local district administrative complex have to sit in the sweltering heat as there are no fans in the corridor of the complex. They also bear hot air coming from air conditioner blowers installed in various offices of the complex. Though the administration has turned a blind eye towards the plight of the visitors, local advocates have knocked at the doors of a local court to get the blowers removed from the corridor of the complex.

After receiving petition from local advocates, including Vinod Bansal, Sanjay Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Satish Yadav, Jitender Attri, CB Singh, Amit Sharma, Parveen kaushik, the court issued a notice to the government for May 23.

A visit to the local administrative complex is enough to assess the plight of the people, who stand in long queues without fans and proper sitting arrangements. Almost all split ACs installed in various offices located in the complex blow hot air making the matter worse in the scorching heat.

“Hoping to get some respite from the sweltering heat, people come to the corridor of the complex, but the ACs trouble them as officials enjoy the cooling inside their offices. Many pipes installed to discharge waste water from ACs are leaking and spoiling documents,” alleged advocates. “Court has issued notice to the Haryana government for May 23. We have pleaded before the court to remove AC blowers and also place order for fans,” said advocate Vinod Bansal. 

Sirsa, May 19
Hundreds of students, who passed out or still pursuing LLB course from Chaudhary Devi Lal University, heaved a sigh of relief as the Bar Council of India (BCI) has finally accorded recognition to the degrees awarded by the Law Department of the university.

Vice-Chancellor, Dr Radhe Sham Sharma, said the BCI order would remove all hindrances in the enrolment of students passing out from the Law Department as advocates.

Students who passed LLB from the university were sitting idle as the Punjab and Haryana High Court had refused to enrol them as advocates till the BCI granted recognition to the degrees awarded by the university.

In his orders dated May 18, 2014, JR Sharma, secretary in the Bar Council of India (BCI), had conveyed to the registrar and the chairperson of the Law Department that the BCI had ratified the admissions made from 2010-11 to 2013-14 in the three and five-year law courses run by the university.

The BCI orders further stated that the students, who have been admitted by the university during these four years, would be eligible for enrolment as advocates. As per the order, the extension of approval for affiliation has been granted to the three and five-year law courses from 2014-15 to 2016-17 with an intake of two sections of 60 students each in both the courses.

“The department has been asked to apply for renewal of the affiliation on or before December 31, 2016,” said Dr JS Jakhar, chairperson of the Law Department.

“This is good news for hundreds of students who have been suffering for the past several years for no fault of theirs,” said Kartar Singh, a whistle blower, who has been taking up cudgels against the BCI as well as the university on behalf of the students.

Owing to an adverse report by a team, which conducted an inspection of the department in 2009, the BCI had barred the university from making any fresh admissions to its LLB course. However, the university continued with its admissions thereafter.

Last year, the Bar Council of the Punjab and Haryana High Court refused to enrol students passing LLB degree from Chaudhary Devi Lal University in or after 2013, as their degrees were rendered invalid due to non-recognition by the BCI.

This led to discontent among students and on March 10 this year, four students of the university began fast unto death for pressurising the authorities concerned to resolve the issue.

However, Jakhar persuaded the students to end their fast the next day and Vice-Chancellor Radhe Sham Sharma also promised to solve their problem soon. 

Gurgaon, May 19
To make the ‘no construction law’ in 900m around ammunition depot more stringent, the Gurgaon administration today decided to book construction staff, along with the owners, of any new construction in the area.

This decision was taken in a joint meeting called by Shekhar Vidyarthi, Deputy Commissioner, in which the officers of the Gurgaon police, Municipal Corporation Gurgaon (MCG) and Airforce also participated. It was decided in the meeting that strict steps would be taken to curb illegal constructions in the restricted zone and maintain status quo of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Chandigarh.

The step shall ensure that it will become difficult for people to get labour and it will deter illegal constructions.

A special team has been formed to survey the area to nab the culprits and will be headed by Om Prakash, SDM Gurgaon (North). The other members in the team will be ACP Udyog Vihar, ACP City, Vinod Kumar Yadav, Assistant Security Officer of Air Force, and head of the concerned Inspection Team.

After the survey, an earlier satellite imagery of the area will be matched with the latest imagery and the illegal constructions that came up during the last two months, when the district administration was engaged in elections, will be demolished in a phased manner. He said adequate police help would be provided during the demolition drive.

"The entire area of 900m is divided into six sectors, each headed by an executive engineer level officer. The SDMs have also been directed to conduct surprise inspections besides patrolling by the police officials. The teams should conduct inspections during night also and register cases against persons found involved in illegal construction activity," said Vidyarthi.

He added that if any illegal construction is found, the concerned inspection team will be held responsible. He asked the Air Force Authorities to report cases of illegal constructions in the restricted area directly to Tarsem Sharma, District Revenue Officer, who would be the Nodal Officer to ensure that action is taken on these complaints. At the same time, Vidyarthi said the illegal borewells which had come up in the restricted area will also be sealed and action will be taken against the owner of the premises.

Chandigarh, May 19
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has decided to revise the delegation of powers of its officers engaged in the operations wings to expedite the release of new connections and for extension and reduction in the load of existing connections,.

An official spokesman said here today that a subdivisional officer (SDO) could now sanction up to 500 KVA load while an executive engineer was empowered to sanction 501 KVA to 2000 KVA load in case there was no system constraint and capacity was available in the existing distribution system.

A superintending engineer could sanction contract demand from 2001 KVA to 5000 KVA while a Chief Engineer could now sanction load demand above 5000 KVA irrespective of the voltage level.

In case augmentation of the distribution system weas required for releasing a connection, a superintending engineer had been authorised to allow connections having more than 20 kilowatt load while a chief engineer had been given the powers for high-tension connections having above 2000 KVA load.

Yamunanagar, May 19
Roshan Lal, additional chief secretary, Haryana Agriculture Department, has asked the senior officials of the department to submit a detailed report in the case of late supply of subsidised seed of ‘summer moong’.

He also directed them to stop the supply of the said seed to farmers as the appropriate time of sowing had passed.

“I have asked the senior officers of the department to prepare a report as to why the subsidised moong seed was supplied late at district headquarters. After the arrival of the report, appropriate action would be taken if anyone was found guilty,” Roshan Lal said.

The decision has come after the media and the farmers raised the issue.

The Haryana Seed Development Corporation had a target of supplying 500 quintals of the seed in Yamunanagar district, out of the target of 7,500 quintals for the whole state.

However, the corporation could sell only eight quintals in the district as the seed did not reach in time and when it did the farmers did not show interest in buying it.

According to farmers, the appropriate time for sowing the moong crop is the last week of April. However, the seed reached the district on May 14.

The supply of the said seed was not timely in other districts too, depriving thousands of farmers of the state from sowing the crop.

Chandigarh, May 19
The fate of 2,800 JBT teachers, appointed by the Om Parkash Chautala-led Haryana Government, still remains uncertain. Just about four months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court showed them the door, Haryana today again sought additional time to file its reply in the case.

The matter will now come up for hearing on May 30 when the state government is to apprise the High Court of its stand. The state has so far sought three adjournments to clarify its stand.

On a previous date of hearing, the court had asked the state government to decide the fate of these teachers. Their removal orders have already been stayed by a Division Bench during the hearing of an appeal filed by the removed JBT teachers. Counsel for the state had earlier informed the Bench that it had sought legal opinion from the Advocate-General regarding the continuation of their services. The final decision in the matter would be taken by the government after getting the legal opinion.

Justice K. Kannan had earlier asserted that the selection was vitiated "though not fully"; and also rejected the argument that the selection of candidates after 13 years could not be interfered with.

Justice Kannan had also directed the government to prepare a single merit list; and made it clear that the state was not required to issue "show-cause notices for removal" as the selected candidates were parties to the writ petitions and the High Court order was rendered after hearing their submissions.

Justice Kannan had ruled that the candidates who deserved to be selected and have a right to continue in office were the ones figuring in two lists "the published list and the one filed by accused IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar before the Supreme Court."

The judgment on 80 petitions by Vijay Kumar and other petitioners came a year after the special CBI court in New Delhi convicted then Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala, two IAS officers, including Sanjiv Kumar, and 51 others on corruption charges in the selection case.

Jind, May 19
Reacting to The Tribune news “In 30 Jind villages, taps running dry for 3 weeks,” the Safidon SDM formed a special team of the Public Health Department for compiling a detailed report on the water problem being faced in the region.

“During inspection by our special team, it has come to light that though the Public Health Department has taken enough steps to provide potable water to villagers, the erratic power supply has been creating problems for the department,” said Safidon SDM Prem Chand.

He said many a times, the Power Department had to suspend power supply due to unexpected weather conditions as had been happening for last few days. Villagers had to suffer due to lack of potable water during the power cuts, he added.

“Villagers have been purchasing RO water as we do not supply RO water. It’s their own choice whether they want to drink RO water or not,” said the SDM.

“Power shortage is an excuse. The reality is that the department has not installed required number of submersible pump sets. Those already installed are also not maintained properly. There are 30 villages in Safidon which have been facing acute shortage of water. I can prove it,” said INLD MLA from Safidon, Kali Ram Patwari.

Executive Engineer of the Public Health Department, Jind, Surender Dalal, said, “I have checked the supply of water in many villages. If there is any problem, we will solve it on a priority basis.”

Ambala, May 19
Members of various Sikh bodies today met DCP Surinder Pal Singh and DC Saket Kumar, demanding arrest of the miscreants who broke into the Shalimar Colony gurdwara last night and stole Guru Granth Sahib, some holy ‘gutkas’, cash and other valuables.

SGPC member Harpal Singh Machonda, state SAD spokesman Sant Singh Kandhari, Ambala Mayor Ramesh Mal, Congress leader Bittu Chawla and others met the officers.

When a ‘sevadar’ reached the gurdwara this morning, he found the locks broken and Guru Granth Sahib and some ‘gutkas’ missing. He informed gurdwara managing committee president Manjeet Singh, who reported the matter to the police.

Guru Granth Sahib and the ‘gutkas’ were later found in bushes near the gurdwara, which caused resentment. Sikh bodies set a 72-hour deadline for the police to take action. The police registered a case and started an investigation.

Chandigarh, May 19
In Haryana, more than 64.40 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat has so far arrived in various mandis as compared to over 58.57 lakh metric tonnes during the corresponding period last year.

A spokesman of the Food and Supplies Department said the government agencies had procured 64.38 lakh MT of wheat whereas 2,779 MT of wheat had been purchased by traders.

He said Hafed had so far purchased 24.92 lakh MT of wheat, followed by the Food and Supplies Department (17.83 lakh MT), Agro Industries Corporation (5.71 lakh MT), Haryana Warehousing Corporation (6.31 lakh MT), Confed (1.61 lakh MT) and the Food Corporation of India (7.97 lakh MT) during the current procurement season.

Sirsa district was leading with over 9.38 lakh MT, followed by Fatehabad (7.03 lakh MT), Karnal ( 6.58 lakh MT), Jind (6.05 lakh MT), Kaithal (5.96 lakh MT), Hisar (4.55 lakh MT), Sonepat (3.22 lakh MT) and Panchkula (28,143 MT).